Success stories from women
all around the world
Rebecca Lolosoli – Umoja Village, Kenya
Born in rural Samburu County, Rebecca fled an arranged marriage at age 19. In 1991, she founded Umoja (“unity”), a women-only village where land is collectively owned, and crafts and agriculture are sold to tourists. Starting with just a handful of women, Rebecca and her community built a museum, school, and communal land worth around KSh 200,000 (~US $2,700), funded entirely through their earnings in crafts and tourism. Today, Umoja supports over 60 women who have escaped gender-based violence, offering economic independence and social support. With leadership roles firmly reserved for women and men banned, Rebecca has become a national advocate for land rights—breaking cycles of oppression and creating a model of female-led communal entrepreneurship.
Pooja Sharma – Bakery Entrepreneurs, Haryana, India
From the village of Chandu near Gurugram, Pooja became the first woman in her village to work outside the home—first as a teacher, then in dairy, and later founding a SHG bakery in a supposedly haunted mansion. With NGO training in 2017, she launched a bakery producing flaxseed biscuits, laddoos, dalia snacks, and jowar products. Today, she trains over 1,000 women, employs 150 regularly, and supplies local restaurants. Pooja was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar (2022), India’s highest civilian honor for women.
Her progression—teacher ➝ farmer ➝ food entrepreneur—illustrates how strategic resource use, community trust, and perseverance can fuel rural women’s industrial transformation.
Tatyana Bakalchuk – Wildberries, Russia
In 2004, Tatyana launched Wildberries from her Moscow apartment during maternity leave, selling clothes from small local and surplus Western brands. She introduced fixed delivery fees and free try-ons via a network of pickup points. By 2020, Wildberries was Russia’s largest e-commerce site, valued at over $1 billion—making her Russia’s richest woman with an estimated net worth of ~$1.4 billion. Over 7,000 pickup points, platform diversification during crises, and expansion into e-commerce platform services show her strategic agility. Bakalchuk’s journey—from teacher to e-commerce tycoon—reveals how combining consumer insight, logistical innovation, and digital scale can disrupt traditional retail in rural-urban emerging markets.
Sarah Frey – Frey Farms, Illinois, USA
At 16, Sarah borrowed $10,000 to buy a truck and revitalize her family's faltering melon route—growing clients from 12 to 150. At 18, she purchased her family’s farm to prevent foreclosure, then diversified into pumpkins, watermelons, corn, squash, and launched a beverage line, Tsamma Watermelon Juice. Frey Farms now spans ~15,000 acres across multiple states, earning Sarah the title "Pumpkin Queen of America." Her multi-state distribution, product diversification, and Harvard case study on deal-making illustrate how grit, agribusiness innovation, and brand expansion let a rural teenager become a national industry leader.
Marina Andreev – Uniform Manufacturing, Moldova (Europe)
Fresh from university in 2019, Marina won an EU grant to launch a uniform manufacturing plant in Ustia, Dubăsari District—a rural Moldovan village. With no prior experience, she trained 15 women locally, creating stable income opportunities. Four years later, the business remains profitable, sustaining itself and growing through reinvestment. Marina credits the EU grant—the result of her own business plan—as the launching point (“momentum that helped me”). Her story demonstrates how targeted funding, youth leadership, and services-based enterprise can drive rural Europe development and female economic empowerment.